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Basil Gwynn
"I do what needs to be done. You don't have to like it, but don't try to stop me. I don't want to have to solve you, too." The Basics Basil Gwynn, commonly and by choice known as "B", is the leading Zenith among the Solar Exalted. He is an attractive young man with boyish looks incongrous with his intense demenor, 5'5, and has not seen his natural hair color since he was 12, preferring to keep a rotating kaliedoscope of bright hues. He seems like any other young punk, with shredded hoodie, pants slung too low, and often a pair of goggles. Ubiquitous in his presence are his skateboard, yo-yo, and beaten up black backpack. B, of course, is not at all what he seems. The first of the Cycle 1 Solars, he carries one of the most powerful gifts, and burdens, to be laid upon any Exalt in this age or another. Bearing the memories and experieneces of every one of his exaltations through the end of the Second age, B is the singular most poweful resource available to the Solars. He is also batshit, frequently homicidal, and prone far more than any other exalts to falling to his curse. Most of this can be attributed to his possession by the Primordial currently known as the Great Salt Lake, which instills in him (ironically) a dedication to the Solar cause unrivaled by any. This works against the wishes of the Circle just as much as it works for them, and B is a common source of strife within the ranks. Powers and Skills B's most notable power is the "gift" granted to him by the Once Conquered Sun: his exaltation is never trimmed by Lytek, oso he retains all of his memeories of previous lives, from now through the second age. Aside from granting him an immeasurable amount of lore, this allows him to remember the techniques of every martial art, charm, and spell that he has ever known . . . so, most of them. However, he is still bound by his Essence, which s not nearly as robust as it has been in the past. He also remembers some custom charms and spells, most notably teleportation spell that is both useful and personally draining. When possessed by the Great Salt Lake Primordial, B has exhibited incredible strength. B is an incredibly skilled athlete and orator, and very media-savvy. He is aided by several powerful artifacts: his skateboard, the golden-stringed yo--yo, and Rupert. Relationships B cultivates a complicated social persona. Friendly and dangerous in one skin, he loves for people to like him, but must keep them at bay from nay real connection. His public image after the lifting of the mists is one of a hot, intelligent and morally concious teenage heartthrob; he is known in the manses as the wise and personally invloved priest; and to those in the know, he is a ruthless enemy and threatening friend. The human side of him is a social animal and loyal freind, but the Primordial part is cold, distant, and treacherous as the arctic sea. There are a few who have ingratiated themselves to B, reacing the child beneath the beast. Delilah is his closest friend and sister, and somewhere inside himself, he trust her to save his life, even as he hopes she can do what needs to be done, and kill him in the end. Katarina is his long-term girlfreind. Thier relationship started off quite contensously, recognizing in each other a calulating mind, and still runs hot and cold depending no their mercurial moods, but they are solidly commited to one another and the mission. Katarina was responsible for helping B crack the shell of the Primordial, and begin to let his human self out more frequently. He would do anything to protect the circle, but aside fomr Delilah he doesn't let them particularly close. The teenager inside idolizes Arthur a little bit, and he respects Blitz and Dane for their prowess and leadership, but he has no doubt that one of them must be the hand that deals the killing blow against him after the war is over. All B has to do now is choose which one will have the honor, and groom him to the task. History Pre-Exaltation B was born to Myra Levins-Gwynn and an unknown father on April 21st, 1990 in Salt Lake City Utah. He was a healthy baby boy, although perhaps a bit cantankerous even at that age. He grew up in the mortuary that his mother owned and operated overlooking one of Salt Lake City's larger graveyards. His life was pretty normal for a child of a single parent and he lived a normal lower middle class child's life. The story would have ended there if it were not for two major occurrences. The first was a simple purchase in a second hand cd store a couple of blocks from his mother's home, in 1998. It was there that young Basil Gwynn would purchase the Refused's "Shape of Punk to Come" and forever be changed. It was there, in the basement of the mortuary, headphones on that B was truly born. In the music he found an anger and an intensity that he could not express before. He felt things in that music, things stirred within him. He began rebelling against school and his mother. It was then that the first bottle of hair coloring, electric blue was purchased. His first skateboard, a prized gift that would not last a year was the next step. Soon B would be a menace on the town. Skating everywhere he could, giving attitude to anyone who looked at him the wrong way, and beginning a career as a street artist specializing in his own signature brand of graffiti. If it had not been for the second event, B probably would have gone the way of many punks: burn out on it, become disillusioned and only have tales to tell of his wilder times, however, he was not given that choice. Exaltation-Discovery It was in the spring of 2001 and B was enjoying some time skipping school and skating on the walkways around the edge of the Great Salt Lake, when he heard a child screaming for help. Looking into the lake B saw a boy, probably no older than 3 or 4 had somehow wandered off and was now somehow sucked out into the namesake of his hometown city. Without a second’s thought B dove into the water in a desperate attempt to save the poor drowning child. It is impossible to tell how long he swam for, but no matter how far he swam, the child just seemed to be out of reach. By the time B had stopped swimming the shore was almost impossible to see. It was then that he felt something watching him. When the first “waves” began to batter B, he did not think too much of it. Not one to panic he was more upset at himself for not being able to save the child than he was worried about his current predicament. When he felt hands reach around his legs, strong, large hands attempt to pull him down he at first thought he had found the child. Holding his breath he allowed himself to be pulled under, thinking he could bring the child to shore. What it was that met his eyes when he went into those salty depths was no child. The creature, as that is what it was, bore a fleeting resemblance to an octopus. Large, colorless, seemingly made of the water itself. It was then that B realized he might be in trouble. He began to fight with all of his might to break free from the creature but to no avail. When all was lost, and after what felt like minutes of fighting underwater with the thing, even B almost gave up. With one last struggle he was able to free himself and burst forth from the surface of the water. Had B attempted to swim at that point, he surely would have been killed. Instead, breaking free he stared up at the sun and a weird thought came to him, “You’re not going to let it end like this are you?” Seemingly as an answer the sun grew brighter. More intense and seemed to reach out and grab for him. B imagined he even saw a face in it. With renewed effort, B reached out for the sun, hoping that he could somehow break from this monster below and get himself to safety. When the voice bellowed to him and asked him, “You are sure about this? You do know what it means?” B found that he did. He understood that he was in the presence of the Once Conquered Sun. He understood what he was and what B’s own role could be in the rebuilding of this world. With an absolute certainty in his voice and a confidence that was well beyond his years he said ‘Of course I do you bloody wanker, now just get me the fuck out of this god’s forsaken lake.” With that the Once Conquered Sun reached out and pulled B out of the Great Salt Lake and bestowed upon him his gift, his exaltation. B would be the first but would not be the last. He would stand against the tide of darkness that threatened this land and would do what needed to be done to ensure the side of light would triumph over the side of dark. The thing in the lake, however, was not through with young Basil. “You made a promise,” it said. “You needed an ally and an assurance. You made a deal. You will live up to your end of the bargain.” With that the creature lunged at B, knocking the Once Conquered Sun aside and joining with his exaltation within the body of the child. A look of great sadness came over the Once Conquered Sun’s eyes. He knew this would happen, but somehow still hoped against it. When B next opened his eyes there was no longer a child there. The Once Conquered Sun looked into the eyes of a general. A man who had sent millions to die, and would happily do so again to meet his ends. Innocence was replaced by calculation, morality was replaced by goals and with that the sun left. B acclimated to his new role as Solar quickly. He made a list of those who needed to be dealt with and spent his time ensuring those who needed to pay would. The task was made somewhat more difficult by a strange affliction that came over him in the joining of exaltation and monstrosity, a complete lack of recognition for the written word and even of simple pictography. No art, no book, no tv, no movie, none of these things could he recognize as anything save for a blur. Pushing past that, he worked his hardest to overcome that obstacle and quite soon many of the worst criminals and dealers of death were put to justice; swift, vicious justice. It was then that B turned his sights on the supernatural elements in town. With his new found powers and a knowledge that spanned beyond this age of man into former, more magical times, B hunted those that would deal with the dark arts. Vampires, werewolves, nephandi, cultist, servants of the shadow lands and even death knights would fall by his hand, as would many of those who stood between him and them. Years went by, and B never saw another Solar. If this would have continued, perhaps this story would have not. Things changed when at the age of 17. Several years after his exaltation, B crossed paths with the travelers known as Delilah and Dane. It is here he would find his compatriots, here is where he would find his circle mates, and here where he might ultimately find redemption. Running with his Circle When B joined up with Dane and Delilah, he did nothing to reveal himself as the powerful and murderous being he was, spending his time manipulating the other two Solar's to his ends. It wasn't until they were trapped in Argus' underground compound in Colorado that he stopped thinking of his circlemates as anything other than tools. Enraptured by Delilah's painting and injured in the subsequent fight over it, the shell of his exaltation chipped away enough that he and Delilah became friends, even when Rupert revealed to her the horrible consquences of B's limit breaks. Their bond contined to grow stronger while other companions came and went, until B took a hit meant to kill her, and Delilah sacrificed a part of her soul to heal him. Realizing how dangerous to the mission their freindshiop could be, B backed away, leaving Delilah in the care of the newly aquired Dawn and Eclipse caste. Tensions between he and Gina escalted in the wake of Delilah's kidnapping, culminating in a shouting match between the two, where Gina banished him from the Solar group at large. Currently Other Notes